Christy Clark announces $76-million Early Years Strategy

Zoe McKnight, The Vancouver Sun02.20.2013

Premier Christy Clark, left, looks on as British Columbia Finance Minister Mike de Jong tables the budget in the B.C. Legislature in Victoria, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Premier Christy Clark looks on as British Columbia Finance Minister Mike de Jong leaves the Legislature after tabling the budget in Victoria, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013.Jonathan Hayward
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Premier Christy Clark looks on as B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong tables the budget in the B.C. Legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013.Jonathan Hayward
/ Canadian Press

Premier Christy Clark looks on as Finance Minister Mike de Jong tables the budget in the B.C. Legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013.Jonathan Hayward
/ Canadian Press

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The Christy Clark government plans to invest $76 million in child care over the next three years, including 2,000 new licensed daycare spaces across the province, the premier announced Wednesday.

At the Dorothy Lam Children's Centre in downtown Vancouver, Clark played with Lego and read children's books to preschoolers before outlining her government's Early Years Strategy, which was given a brief mention in her government's budget, tabled this week.

"In particular when I meet with women and moms and dads, I hear about the demands of child care, about the need to make sure child care is accessible, that it's affordable, and that it provides the quality that parents expect from it," Clark told reporters.

The strategy is an eight-year government commitment to fund 13,000 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with the first 2,000 spaces made available in the next three years, at a cost of $32 million. The current number of licensed group child care spaces in the province is approximately 100,000.

Effective April 2015, a new early childhood tax benefit would be provided to 180,000 B.C. families who earn less than $100,000 per year with children under the age of six, at a cost of $146 million per year.

Under the new tax credit, eligible families would receive $55 per month, or $660 per year, per child. Households with incomes between $100,000 and $150,000 would receive a partial payment.

Clark also pledged to spend $37 million "in support of improving the overall quality of early years services for children, including child care," and $7 million to strengthen the internal coordination of early child care development programs themselves.

The strategy would include an amendment to the School Act to ensure school boards incorporate early childhood education in schools to promote "seamless" access to facilities for both classes and child care — similar to the system at Dorothy Lam Children's Centre, which is located next to Elsie Roy elementary school.

Clark linked early childhood advancement with a strong economy.

"We do not believe that British Columbian families need more Band-Aids or quick-fix solutions. What they need is a long-term plan, backed by a strong funding commitment," she said.

The details, such as the location of new child care spaces, have not yet been worked out, said Stephanie Cadieux, minister of children and family development.

Needs "vary from community to community, depending on availability and, of course, on the cost of providing the care in those communities," she said.

Advocates estimate only one in five children who need it have access to licensed group child care, and argue it's too expensive for many B.C. families anyway.

"To have them announce this load of nothing, throwing bits of money at different aspects of child care, most of it in the future, is nothing short of pathetic. It's not a strategy and it's certainly not a plan," said Sharon Gregson, spokeswoman for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., which is in favour of $10-a-day, government-funded care similar to Quebec's system.

"The spots will be unaffordable for most families to use as child care gets more expensive every year. The $55 a month they are promising would not even pay for one day of child care in east Vancouver today."

In Vancouver, the average cost in 2012 for a month of full-time care for a toddler between 19 months and three years is $1,197, and $824 for a child between 3 and 5 years old, according to the Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre. (Existing government subsidies vary by income, but can provide as much as $635 per month for a toddler in a licensed setting.)

There are about 100,000 child care spaces in B.C., and about 350,000 working mothers, Gregson said.

Adding 2,000 new spaces over three years will not solve the problem of access, said Pam Preston, director of Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre. From 2006 to 2007, 3,196 regulated spaces were added in the province, and from 2007 to 2008, 5,152 spaces were added, according to Child Care Canada's 2013 report.

"New spaces are always important," Preston said. "But people still need to be able to afford those spaces."

"It's more than the annual cost of a university education."

Most child care workers are paid only around $18 per hour because the centres are strapped for cash despite high tuition costs, because operating expenses and required teacher-to-child ratios are so high, leading to a "quality gap," Gregson said.

On Wednesday, Clark dismissed the Quebec model as "unaffordable."

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Christy Clark announces $76-million Early Years Strategy

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